A bit of Online History and agility...
I was engaged in a conversation not so very long ago in which the person
commented on the braggard nature of agility participants listing their dogs and
titles in their .sig lines. Ah yes, I understand....but let me explain.
Here's the Paul Harvey version of the Rest of the Story...a sort of FAD, Kelly,
but not really about the first agility dogs, but the first agility discussions
online via the internet.
I was on line in the early 90's when there was NO agility list at all. Imagine
that! Total silence on the topic of agility in cyberspace. We had the internet,
and we had discussion on many topics, including Obedience, but not one single
byte toward agility. So very dark it was.
Then a "list" was born in Prodigy...and shortly thereafter at the
trumpkin host. We had Agility-L:! (That's a whole different story). Anyway, it
was about 1993 and we were happily introducing ourselves to each other, we even
had the coolest shirts made: "Agility-L the Biggest Agility Club on
Earth" I think it read. A small little group finding each other through
such a broad expance.
So back to the braggards part. Because there were so few of us on line, and
agility trials so far and few between, we began to include in our "tag
lines" our location and our dogs so that we could identify one another.
Oh, that's you up there with club "xyz" with dog "lmp"....you
see? Otherwise we were constantly asking one another, where are you from, what
dogs do you run.
So you see, it wasn't a simple brag at all, it was an attempt to locate each
other and understand the dogs we were running at the time.
I'd like to find the fine family in CA who was racing against Chelsea for the
first MAD Lab. She was so wonderful to talk to on line and we supported each
other for each trial. Chelsea made it to first MAD then suffered a spinal
embolism. I am assuming that our yellow Lab counter part made it to first ADCH
and I'd so love to give credit. I've lost the communication though, are you
still out there, what happened?
Katie Greer & The Motley Crew
(The tag above was made by one of the Agility-L list members for everyone who
would be attending the USDAA Grand Prix held in San Antonio. The 2nd one, where
it was run on carpet inside the Ball Room. Date to be added when it is recalled,
but it was about 1994 or so. The tag contains the winning logo and I think it
was designed by Peggy Hammond. The photo right is the logo on a sweatshirt,
Annie working on MAD)
I still have my 2 shirts!
Nita Woulf (wow...it's been that long already?!)
I still have the Agility-L T-shirt too!! (Of course it is **WAY** too small
now--It must have shrunk, right?) I think it was my first agility shirt....
It was so exciting back then to get our own list about agility. And it was Katie
Greer who constantly maintained a positive, enthusaistic tone. Many of us were
so new to the sport that Katie sent around a homemade videotape from a DAWG
trial so we could see what a trial looked like! The video came with a list of
the names and addresses of the next people to send it to.
We had a contest to design the logo. It is a computer screen showing the globe,
with a wonderful generic dog leaping across it. On the front of the shirt it has
the address of the list -- agility-l@reepicheep.gcn.uoknor.edu
-- Don't try that link now! Imagine today's agility folk having to type that
address correctly. I remember that nobody had color monitors back then, so we
couldn't see the logo in color. On the back it says: "Agility-L the Biggest
Agility Club on Earth" and has two big brown paw prints.
I remember driving 2 1/2 hours with my not-yet-trained dog, an umbrella and a
chair to watch a small USDAA trial. I knew nobody there, but I had a wonderful
time.
OK, back to the present--without my dogs' titles in my sig!
Lisa Barrett and the Shelter Hounds(R)
I still wear my Agility-L sweatshirt or T's to trials and I chuckle when I am
asked, "how can I join that list", and tell them that they are about
ten years too late. Time goes by and things change (not always for
the best) but it was fun to be part of the beginning in what was to become the
greatest dog sport on earth.
Where are you located and where did you compete? You must have seen my
dogs run if you are on the west coast. My Leonbergers ran in trials from
San Diego all the way up to Washington and made regular trips to Phoenix as
well. I had my giants in the first NADAC Championships too. Back in
the early days you HAD to travel because there were so few trials. Did we
ever cross paths?
Bonnie Goodfriend who ran with the giants
12/29/03
